To Start Anew
by Lost Animus
Summary: AU Cybertron. Bud had been held prisoner; the Decepticons have him trapped. Now, he's trapped in a real-life nightmare in which he must face his friends and family, but in a way he never thought he would have to...
1. Current position

Tell me what you think!

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Chapter one –

_The Decepticon smirked and leaned in closer to the struggling figure in his grasp. The small figure was struggling best as it could, and while it knew it was going nowhere, it continued.  
After a minute or so, it stopped, finally out of breath. It panted quietly and resorted to giving the Decepticon a death glare.   
"Well." The Decepticon concluded in his deep, booming voice._  
_"We both know that your friends are fighting to save their lives – yet don't realized that they are trapped in a gas room. You, however, found out, and I am surprised that you came to actually try to stop me." The Decepticon smirked victoriously, and the figure looked away._  
_"I don't know how, however, you found me." The Decepticon now frowned and narrowed his eyes, as to study the figure he was holding, who looked back to meet the speaker's eyes. The angry glint in the smaller's eyes was unmistakable – and for a second, they had a sarcastic glint, which soon vanished.  
"You're a little too big to miss, you know." It said, and then grimaced as the Decepticon tightened its grip.  
"You truly are an odd one. But since you went to all of this trouble, I'll tell you my plan. I was going to have my men retreat, and gas the room with gas fatal to humans and robots. It is fatal to robots because the gas is acidic." The figure now looked shocked, and the Decepticon chuckled.  
"Tell you what. When they die, and I take over the universe, I'll let you be my pet." The figure now glared again.  
"I'd rather kill myself." The Decepticon frowned again.  
"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" The Decepticon earned a thoughtful expression, and then smiled again.  
"How about this: If I gas and kill them, they all die, but so do you. Now, I can give them a knockout gas instead, but on one condition." The figure breathed in sharply.  
"What is it?" It asked, gripping the Decepticon's hand even harder, as if it were about to drop it. The Decepticon laughed.  
"I will do the same to you…I have an experiment to try out on you…I will erase your existence from everyone's memories. However, you keep your memories. I want you to understand what this is." The figure was filled with dread, and after a while, the Decepticon added, "So, I guess that it will be B?" Slowly, the figure nodded.   
"Good." The Decepticon said, and then turned on his radio. "Starscream, I want you to retreat and release the knockout gas. Then proceed with my Plan 4A." He hesitated, and then relaxed when the radio burst into life with Starscream's voice.  
"Yes, Megatron. I understand." Megatron smiled, looked at the figure in his arms, and smiled wider. With a simple flick of one of his fingers, he hit the figure on the head and its body slumped, now unconscious._

Bud bolted up from his position on the floor with his blanket thrown over him. He was breathing fast, and his eyes were unfocused for a few seconds.  
He gasped for breath for a few minutes before looking around, like he had all of the other times that he had that nightmare, now fully aware.  
He groaned and let himself fall back into his previous position. He stared at the ceiling, sighed, and then sat up again. He was sitting in the corner of a dark and spacious room, one about one and a half the times of his old room, except this one was incredibly bare.  
He stood and leaned heavily against the wall to support him. He looked around, spotting the door, which was in the corner in front of him, against the wall.  
In the corner to his right was a small swivel chair in front of a large screen with lots of mini-screens around it, suspended by metal wires. They were showing a picture of silent static.  
Ignoring it and checking the last and empty corner, Bud slowly departed from his wall. He focused on the door once more.  
He walked over to it and reached out to open it. He then paused, sighed, and turned around to survey his room once more.  
The only thing in the room other than him and the monitor and its chair was his blanket. Bud looked at the monitor again, and decided to check it.  
He walked over to it and sat in the chair that was attached to the large monitor. While glancing once more around the room, he turned to the monitors, turned them on and viewed them, resting his head on his hands.  
After giving a heavy sigh, he switched the monitors to show different camera views with one hand while keeping the other one under his chin. His fingers moved quickly over the keys, his eyes staying on the monitors, never even looking at the keyboard.  
He viewed some more scenes and smiled sincerely at them, and then turned all but one off again and got up. He changed his clothes, from a white tank top and white sweats to another white tank top and black pants. He walked over to the door and hesitated again.  
Taking a deep breath, he leaned in to the door, and pressed his ear against it. Yes, he did hear someone sitting outside there, but which person was it?  
He held his breath and listened more intently, and then heard a certain clicking noise of metal joints moving ever so slightly, like someone was moving their foot.  
Bug smiled to himself, frowned and unbolted his door, and paused. He smiled, shook his head, and then opened his door, jumping out of it and scaring the being outside of it greatly.  
"Good morning!" Bud said happily, as well as loudly.  
The being smiled apologetically, and then relaxed from his sudden fighting stance he had made when he had been scared.  
He had been the one most against the reason for Bud being here in the first place, supported Bud, and was the one that got along the best with him.  
"It is still hard to believe that you can be this happy after all that has happened in the past two months." He said, and Bud shrugged, frowning a bit.  
"Well, what else choice do I have?" He said, and smiled. "Besides, I can't always look to the past, even though it might be part of my future." He asked, and the other chuckled.  
"Good point. Are you going to the indoor garden now?" He asked, and Bud nodded.  
"You're coming with me, right?" He asked, and the being nodded again.  
"I don't have a choice, even if I didn't want to go. I like the garden, even if the others don't." Bud chuckled, and elbowed his 'friend's knee.  
"Some manly guy you are, eh?" The other gained an offended look, and a guilty one at the same time.  
"Well, I _am_ the King of the Jungle."  
"Whatever you say, Scourge, whatever you say." Bud answered back, and the two walked down the aisle.

In Bud's room, the one monitor, in the corner, and being the smallest one, showed the Main Control room on Optimus's ship, and then switched to the Hangar Bay and other rooms where the unsuspecting Autobots and co. were moving about.

Bud hummed happily as he walked to a large door inside a different sector of the ship.  
He entered a code into a small password bank, and the doors opened.  
In order to keep Bud at least a little happy, occupied, and away from annoying others, he was given a garden area to raise, keep, and protect. And although he was small, he had a lot of free time on his hands, and so the garden was pretty large; it took up the entire room, which was about the size of three quarters of the Main room on Optimus's ship.  
Bud entered the garden to see the large areas of green surrounding one large tiled center with smaller paths leading through the sea of plant-life. He then took a watering can-device from the wall and filled it with water (that came from nowhere, of course). He then cheerily went from plant to plant while watering them.  
Seeing as he was the leader of the Jungle Planet, and he had an interest in plants, Scourge followed Bud, probably enjoying watching the flowers give into the water and blossom as much as the kid before him.  
See, the plants had been purchased at different planets, and most of these plants had "special qualities". Most of them, if not all, had a consciousness, and even talked to Bud. They helped Bud keep occupied.  
After he had finished watering the plants, Bud started a conversation with a beautiful tree that had large red leaves, and another tree that was incredibly young, for it had been planted recently, and that grew on anything. They were Joan and Sam, respectively, as Joan was "female" and Sam was "male".  
He finished the conversation, Scourge had noticed, and had begun to look around the ceiling of the ship, which was also covered completely in a moss-type plant, the same type of plant as Sam. Before Scourge could ask what it was, the ship shuddered and the alarm went off.  
They had been hit by something, and were being sent from Earth's orbit into its atmosphere.

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That is my first chapter, Yay! I'll try to work on both stories at once, so…yeah!


	2. Another chance

Here's chapter two!!

Chapter two –

The two continued to look around, until Scourge snapped into reality and grabbed a protesting Bud. He was whining about leaving his plants as Scourge took him to his room, threw him inside, and told him to pack his clothes.

Thunderblast skidded into view as the ship tilted.  
"Scourge, there you are! Megatron is keeping a few onboard, but is requesting for the rest to fly to Earth!" She called, and Scourge nodded.  
"Bud, you heard her." He said as the boy turned to him. "You can't fly with us, so I'll place you in a pod." The boy nodded, and then snorted.  
"Not that I would want to fly anywhere with Megatron anyways." He caught Scourge's glare, which was telling him not to try anything, and Bud shrugged.

Bud walked out of his room just as the ship tilted sideways, and Bud tripped and was sent back before a flying Thunderblast caught him.  
"That was close. Man, are you trying to get yourself hurt? Megatron can't risk it, kiddo." Bud scowled, and Scourge ushered Thunderblast towards the docking bay.  
"We should leave…"

Bud was placed into the pod quickly, and he barely had anytime to get ready. The other two Decepticons were joined by a few others, and were about to open the door as Bud was almost ready.  
Before he could even turn the pod on, however, something hit the ship again and the door tore off. The Decepticons jumped up, and transformed quickly, and Scourge was the first to make a grab for the pod, while turning on his radio.  
"Why isn't it turned on?!" He asked Bud as he grabbed the pod. However, it was already slipping out of his grasp.  
From inside the pod, Bud turned on his radio, and looked back at Scourge, or the back of the pod.  
"It won't turn on! Only the…never mind, that doesn't work either." Despite the situation, the dryness in Bud's voice was clearly voiced. Just then, the pod rumbled to life, and it slipped from Scourge's grasp.   
Thunderblast and Sideways raced after it, but the pod was out of reach.  
"The ship is back up! We'll have to find him later! Come on, now!" Starscream shouted through his com. link.  
Scourge nodded and the others followed back to the ship. Bud would easily survive the fall…At the least, if the pod was malfunctioning, he could land safely…

Bud sighed in relief. His pod was resting in a tree. Classic.  
He had been able to land in a forest, and his pod was small and light enough to not reach the ground. He jumped out of the pod, and realized why the mountains he could see from here looked so familiar. He punched the tree that he was resting against and grimaced as pain laced through his hand.  
"Why me? Why Colorado?!" He sat down, and thought for a moment before smiling.  
"You know…I wonder if the memory wipe is reversible…If so, then..." He said to himself and smiled once more.  
"Besides, by killing two birds with one stone, I'm pretty sure that they still have that one device…the one that keeps their position invisible to any Decepticons…or should I say, I can kill three birds. I would love to rejoin, if possible…." Bud smiled, and, with a plan in his head, jumped down from the low branch he was on.  
He grabbed his black jacket, made sure that his beanie was okay, and took his other clothes. He then started to walk.

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Seriously, tell me what you think of the two chapters. If I get less than 5 reviews, I won't continue.


	3. Tracked and Tracking

Chapter three –

_A few hours later…_

Coby sighed in protest as Lori started to walk faster. Adjusting his movements to catch up to her, he readjusted the bags in his hands.

Lori had dragged him out for the day, and that had been only a few hours ago. Their next stop, thankfully after all of Lori's clothes shopping, was to a book store. After that would be the grocery store.

He followed Lori quickly, and almost rammed into her as she stopped abruptly, looked around with determination on her face, and continued with an even faster speed.

Coby sighed, and struggled to keep up with her. Lori had a habit of getting lost…

Bud looked around in the daylight, zipping up his too-big jacket so that it was covering his white shirt completely. It wasn't that cold, but Bud still wore his jacket and beanie. After living in the constant high-degree temperature for two months, Bud was cold.

He looked around, hoping, but not expecting to find what – or who – he was looking for. After about an hour of searching, se sighed and walked into a random bookstore.

He moved down a few rows, found a section he was interested in, which was now manga, plant books, or, thanks to his lifestyle, technology books for aero planes or such.

He found a book about helicopters on the bottom row, and squatted down. He picked up the book and started to read.

Coby looked around as Lori stopped once more, and then looked at Lori with a dry glare.

"You're lost, aren't you?" Lori ignored him, and Coby walked into the store right behind them.

Lori looked up at the store's title, and chuckled pathetically. It was the bookstore that Coby had wanted to go to for information on updating the Autobot's vehicle range, and for Coby's inventions.

When he got inside, Coby dropped the bags on the chair next to a table used for people who wanted to read. Lori came in and stood by it.

Coby nodded to Lori and then went looking for the section he wanted to find. Looking up at the signs hanging from the ceiling, he turned into an isle.

Bud heard someone walking down near the aisle he was in. He ignored them, and as they got closer, he could hear them mutter the sections listed at the ceiling.

He heard the person stop at this row, and looked at them from the corner from his eye.

He stopped his breath and held it; he stared at the person there, who was taking their time reading and rereading the description located under the section headers.

Silently thanking the person who had invented the descriptions, Bud released his breath and dropped the book, wincing at the noise it made. He stood up and walked off as fast as possible, making literally no noise.

Coby looked down as he heard a thud noise, and saw a book lying face down on the ground, still turned to a certain page.

"Just the book I needed..." He murmured as he picked up the book and examined it. "Weird…"

He walked out with the book a few minutes later, having already paid for it.

Bud stood very still in the same place he had been in for about five minutes; against the wall in between two sections in the library. He breathed slowly, as if Coby or Lori could somehow hear him breathing and come investigate.

After he was sure that they had left, he moved, looked around, and sighed. He felt weak-kneed, but ignored the feeling. He was already deep in thought.

Today must've been Lori's shopping day…Meaning, that, since they had just now left the bookstore, they were going to head home in a few hours…

With a jolt, Bud realized that they were probably carrying the devices that hid their signal from the Decepticons. And at the same moment, the light on his shoes went red. **(1)**

They were tracking him. Bud did the first thing he thought of – He ran after Coby and Lori.

Megatron watched the screen in his Control room with a frown. His 'subject' or 'experiment' or even 'hostage' had 'escaped'. Not only that, but…

Megatron was deprived of all thoughts as a small dot appeared on the screen. He barked Starscream's name, and the Decepticon started to zoom in on the location. However, before it could zoom in any further than the city he was in, the dot disappeared.

Megatron cursed and balled his hand into a fist, banging it on his chair.

Bud skidded to a halt, panting. He had run for a few minutes, and the red light had gone out.

He looked around, looking for Coby and Lori, and then spotted them in the large and busy crowded streets. Now, he noticed, it was incredibly busy…

Bud followed Coby and Lori as best as he could. He had to stop often, however, and tuck into an alleyway or something in order to keep the two from seeing him. Coby seemed to notice Bud was there, but was never able to spot him.

After following them for an hour to an hour and a half and the sky slowly turned dark, they headed towards the pier.

They were laughing, and Bud followed behind by about ten yards. As they turned the corner, he heard Coby comment on how he felt like they were being watched the entire time, or since they had left the bookstore.

Lori shrugged off the comment, and they continued walking.

From where he was, Bud hesitated; he wasn't so sure if he really wanted to join them again. What if they didn't remember anything? What if they didn't like him as a friend? He had always annoyed him, but Coby liked it because they were brothers, and Lori didn't mind because Coby liked it.

But now, they wouldn't know him…what would happen?

Bud fingered the weapon that he had stolen a while back and kept with him at night. He had decided to bring it onto the pod with him. It had been a good choice, apparently.

It was a gun that resembled a nerf gun – it shot out an electric type ray that temporarily confused Autobot's or Decepticon's wirings, and they would be paralyzed for several seconds. Megatron had someone on the ship make one for use against the Autobots, and this one was a "toy model". Only Bud knew that it actually worked.

Now, as he returned to his previous thoughts, what would the Autobots do if they thought that he was a spy, or actually worked with the Decepticons?

Bud felt a wave of a mix of sadness, guiltiness, and fear drift through him, and shivered.

He was too busy in his thoughts that he didn't notice the lights in his shoes light up.

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Thanks, all you reviewers!! Oh, and:

1) The light in his shoes weren't the tracking device; they let him know that he was being tracked.

GrimlockX4: My favorite and loyal reviewer of all times; nice to see you again. I have already pretty much mapped this story out; so it shouldn't be easy for me to get writer's block. If what you said was about my earlier story…well, I am having issues on that one…I hate writer's block!

Lendaras: Another faithful reviewer! Boy, am I lucky.

Grimlock, Lendaras, and Witch08: Thank you for your review and support!!


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